Thursday - some good meetings!

Well, it started out with a meeting with MSN Canada, wherein I talked with them about doing some activity window work with a new, and rather large, international client. Everyone left that one enthused. Then it was on to CBC to go over the pitch for the live action show Hasmi and I are working on, Second Coming. CBC’ll probably pass, but the useful thing is that I’m learning how to do a really good pitch, which is transferable to all genres including – you guessed it – animation. Then it was off to a meeting with Wowtv, who are looking at doing animated shows that would cross over into a network of dedicated screens placed in different locations in the world, that users could interact with to make more content. A very cool long term relationship is developing there, but nothing immediate. Then I had a quick call with Warner Canada, who are developing a network of premium partners to develop cel phone content for. I’m trying to position us to do specialised animation for that network. Finally, I have a call with some potential partners on that 52 x 11 TV project for an update and to figure out our next steps in trying to get that through the door. After that, it’s off to another meeting with Hasmi to talk about the next series we’re developing – live action drama.

Busy day. Good day!

Off to Toronto

Off to meet people, pitch, and talk with Hasmi, my writing partner about the script for Second Coming, the comedy we’re writing, as well as another project that’ll be more of a biological sci-fi drama. Here’s the shortlist of who I’m meeting over the next 3 days:

Sympatico
Warner
CBC
Global
Redfish Entertainment
WowTV
Microsoft Canada

And I’m going to try and squeeze Portfolio entertainment in as well to talk animation. Gotta make the price of the ticket worth it...

Price was too high

Sigh. This is always the thing with doing estimates. I got back today to find that the game price I quoted was too high, so I have to “de-deluxe” it a bit to make it fit what they want. It’s always a cat-and-mouse game trying to figure out what’s available and how polished you can make it. Of course, no one wants to hear first off, “I gave you the cheapest price with the caveat that this will all look like crap”.

Ugh

Still working on the budget for the MSN game. I hope everyone has a great time on the boat cruise. I won’t be there, unfortunately.

Stevo in Toronto for CFTPA

Steve’s off to Toronto to do some politicking for the CFTPA with ACTRA. It’s a long story, but the important thing is that Steve’s presence at, and value to, the CFTPA (Canadian Film & TV Producers’ Association) gives us great access into a very personal network of Canada’s cream of the crop as far as other TV producers and production companies go. Though all of this is pretty hidden and not often talked about, these relationships help us get work through the door that lets us “punch above our weight” for an animation studio way out on the East coast.

Tonight's agenda consists of...

2 proposals for MSN US. One’s for a trivia game, the other is for a sort of online lifestyle show. They’re supposed to be in for tomorrow, but I may be able to push them a few days. I’ll probably need to push them. The creative is getting complex...

The backlog right now

Here are some of the projects I’ve been working on recently. Sorry I can’t name some names, but I’m under non-disclosure:

Animation:

1. Working on getting in a 44 min Christmas special.
2. Working on getting in a hybrid New Media / TV project.
3. Working on getting in a 52 x 11 min TV project.
   

Other TV:

1. Building a development / production alliance with WowTV, a producer in Toronto.
2. Building a similar alliance with RedFish Entertainment, another producer in Toronto
3. Writing and pitching a live action comedy called Second Coming, about the son of God being a slacker ski bum who’s hiding out in Banff.
   

New Media:

1. Doing animation for the online version of Total Drama Island, with Xenophile in Toronto.
2. Did a Ford Escape promotion for MSN in the US for their Messenger platform.
3. Just finished doing the Live Earth promotion for MSN (and Al Gore!). If you have a PC, sign up sonnybot@hotmail.com. Say “hi”, and hit the “Accept” link. It’s pretty cool. (doesn’t work on Mac Messenger :(  )
4. Doing 3 or 4 more proposals for MSN US – Games, video pieces, and interactive ads.
5. Doing a proposal for 2 interactive TV applications.
6. Doing a bit of work for the Construction Association of Nova Scotia. (Yeah, I know – WTF? Long story.)
7. Maintaining a small kids entertainment area for Aliant broadband, which I’m hoping will turn into something larger.
   

That doesn’t include all the stuff that Steve’s working on. There’s a fair amount of business development going on, but until now, I’ve kind of sucked at letting people know. Hopefully this here blog will change that.

Hi, all; I'm M-A.

Hi, all. It's come to my recent* attention that a lot of people at Collideascope have no idea what I do, let alone who I am. Furthermore, it's also come to my recent* attention that a lot of people have no idea what goes on up on the 4th floor. 

So, using the power of the information superhighway, I figured I could make one of these so-called "web logs" that I heard were all the rage on Live at 5.

Umm, that's it for now. Oh yeah. If anyone has any questions about Collideascope or whatnot that the normal lines of communication can't answer, feel free to send me an email. m-a [at] collideascope [dot] com.

*not recent